


How to Fix Hearts - Victuuri Week Day One

by CuchyLainx



Series: Victuuri Week 2017 [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Car Accident, Day One, M/M, Surgeon AU, it's still day one in france bear with me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-22 18:19:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9619433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CuchyLainx/pseuds/CuchyLainx
Summary: In a different universe, Victor Nikiforov is not the ice-skater prodigy we all know - instead, his genius saves lives. What hasn't changed, however, is how much Yuuri still admires him. As he finally gets to approach the "Fixer of Hearts", will he be able to connect with the man whose career has always inspired him?





	

**Author's Note:**

> So this is still Day One in France! I had a gruesome long day, it's almost 11pm, but off I go on the Victuuri train! This short story is VERY loosely inspired by Grey's Anatomy - I noticed a lot of people made doctors AU, what can we say? white blouses are sexy as hell.
> 
> English is still not my first language, but I'm doing my best ^o^ ! 
> 
> Here is the music I listened to while writing:
> 
> The Fray – How To Save a Life // Psapp – Cosy in the Rockets // Rilo Kiley – Portions for Foxes // Lifehouse – You And Me // James Blunt – High

“What do you mean, he’s even more handsome that what you thought? Haven’t you seen enough pictures of him to _realize_ the man is literally…”

 “Phichit…” he interrupts, smiling dazedly. “It’s not the _same_. You should have seen it. The way he just…is. The man is an absolute genius, and still you’ll hear him whine from the other side of the hospital if the self-canteen doesn’t have his favorite brand of yoghurt…”

“I’m pretty sure only you would characterize it as “being handsome” though,” Phichit teases him. “You’ve got it sooo baaad!”

 

Yuuri smiles bashfully at the pixelated video of his best friend who’s currently taking a short break from his day-long shift at the veterinary emergencies. Phichit had always loved tiny pets (like hamsters) – and now he’s fearlessly taking care of animals almost bigger than him. At least he’s happy in the job he found, Yuuri thinks, biting his lips.

 

Is _he_ happy as well? Sure, he newly got appointed to this prestigious hospital after years and years of gruesome internships, and is able to see Victor-perfect-Nikiforov, the worldly praised heart surgeon, pouting at the lady in charge of desserts to steal “another piece of pumpkin pie, pretty pretty please?” on an everyday-basis, but something is still…off.

 

Yuuri has admired Victor Nikiforov for the longest time. The man had coined a whole new way of operating heart surgery and is currently the greatest surgeon alive on hearth, whose knowledge he abundantly teaches and provides to the world. Ever since Yuuri had heard of the “fixer of the hearts”, he had known he would do everything he could to become a skilled surgeon as well. Even if it meant spending hours and days studying, even if it meant leaving Japan and his family behind to move into America and learn under the best.

 

He knows that technically he, as well, is one of the best. He saved countless lives, even as an intern, he has been working in hospitals for years now – and his hands are as sure and precise as ever. So why, why on earth can’t he even bring himself to _speak_ to Victor?

 

Maybe it has to do with the fact the surgeon hadn’t even recognized him when they were formally introduced, even though Yuuri had already at the time taken part in numerous high-risks surgeries and meetings. He doesn’t feel like he can ever go past that.

 

“Yuuri! Yuuri, you’re ignoring me!”

“Ah, sorry, Phichit…  I was just thinking… Do you think one day I’ll be able to come even close to Victor?”

 

His best friend frowns. Raising his hands in the air in a grand way, Phichit declares, rather loudly:

 

“You ARE close to him, Yuuri! You did everything right! You are even close to mastering technics of surgeries only _he_ knows, and that’s why you’ve been accepted in _his_ hospital, just so you could learn! How much more incentive to go talk to him do you need, Yuuri?”

 

And rationally, Yuuri knows Phichit is right. And if only he doubted himself a bit less, he would have already go and ask the talented doctor…well, maybe not on a _date_ , but at least if he wanted to sit with him at the self-canteen.

 

As highly-demanded doctors, that was pretty much the only time they had to see each other, after all.

 

A beeping sound pulls him out of his thoughts and regrets, and he mechanically checks his beeper. Nothing.

 

“Oh, Yuuri, I’m sorry, I have to go back! But that’s not the end of this conversation, I tell you! Bye!”

“Bye…” Yuuri sighs to a blackened screen, as Phichit runs towards the poor furry patient someone suddenly brought inside his office slash animal hospital.

 

It’s only a matter of time until his own beeper _does_ manifest itself, and he rushes out of the restroom, already slipping into his surgeon-persona. Today, no one would die under his hands. No one.

 

* * *

 

 

It happens a few days later. Yuuri still hasn’t talked to Victor – Victor is still blissfully unaware of the quiet and efficient work of the other heart surgeon in the hospital.

 

The family is brought in an ambulance. It’s a horrific road accident. Everyday life for Katsuki Yuuri.

 

What _isn’t_ everyday life, however, is Victor Nikiforov being restrained by nurses, cooed at by Christophe Giacometti, their neuro-surgeon, and overall being a mess of panic and anger. Yuuri freezes. He had never seen the usually radiant man looks so out of himself.

 

“Katsuki! What the hell are you doing! Get moving, your surgery team is already waiting for you!”

 

Yuuri turns away from Victor, who is, as he notices now, bellowing broken pleas: “Let me do it, I’m the best, let me do it, let me do it!”

 

“Recap.” he orders curtly, already mentally prepping himself.

“The patient is two years old, has been thrown against the front seats of the car of their parents. Shards of glass…”

 

The intern’s words are suddenly stopped as a heavy arm grabs Yuuri’s shoulders and forces him to turn around. Victor stands before them, huffing, his eyes half-crazed.

 

“You better not fuck this up. They won’t let me save Pasha, but you…you’re not enough. I don’t even know…”

 

Yuuri immediately pushes Victor’s hand and words away, gently but firmly. The man clearly is not in a stable state of mind right now.

 

“Victor. Let me work. I am going to the operating room, and every second you spend restraining me is a wasted one. I don’t know who this child is to you, but I will do my utmost. I always do. Now stay put.”

 

Then, Yuuri turns away, running towards his patient, listening to the recap of the intern – Victor’s face all but a blur in the back of his mind. Right now, the patient is what matters most.

 

* * *

 

 

“Victor…you are not supposed to be here.”

 

A sigh.

 

“Where else am I supposed to be then? They won’t let me do anything.”

 

The man sits beside the shivering surgeon. Yakov spent a long time directing this hospital and he knows all his surgeons by heart. His last decision before retiring had been recruiting Katsuki Yuuri, currently third best heart surgeon in the world, to make him train along Victor. 

 

And he knows Victor definitely shouldn’t be here, watching the open-heart surgery of his baby nephew.

 

“No one ever attempted this kind of surgery before me,” Victor brusquely says. “I knew…I knew there was another surgeon working on it. I watched his recorded surgeries on prototypes. I remember laughing at his blue puddle-covered cap, and being in awe of the delicacy of his hands.”

“Vitya, don’t tell me…”

“I never made the connection. It’s so stupid. He has been literally working next to me for months but I’ve just…not made time. Who doesn’t sympathize with other surgeons of their same specialty? Victor Nikiforov, that’s who. Damn! He probably thought I was a dick!”

 

Yakov is about to say: “But, Vitya, you _are_ a dick,” but he ultimately refrains, figuring he could chose a better moment to sass his former student. Instead, he shakes his head, and puts his hand on Victor’s knee.

 

“Vitya…”

“I just want him to succeed. I don’t care I’m not the only precious surgeon able to do that anymore. I’ll teach him everything I have.”

“He has already learned so much, though,” Yakov answers. “He postulated here for this very reason, and has already spent hours upon hours watching you operate. I’m sure he’ll pull it off.”

 

Victor doesn’t say it, and neither does Yakov. Yuuri _has_ to pull it off – or the tiny baby being operated on won’t make it. Victor has never been so tense in his whole life – not during his first solo surgery, not after his first failure, never. He knows his sister is getting surgery in the other room, that his brother-in-law is still under watch, but those two will be fine. They didn’t get the worst of the shock, after all, since the car had been hit by behind.

 

Victor lays his head on Yakov’s shoulder, tears silently rolling on his pale cheeks. His former mentor puts his right arm around him, and together, in silence, they watch the operation.

 

_“I’m not taking my eyes off you, Katsuki Yuuri. Save him.”_

* * *

 

 

When Yuuri steps out of the operating room, all he wants to do is go take a shower and crawl into bed. He hates when late emergencies keep him in the hospital at night. He is always afraid his fatigue might put him at risk of an error; even if, ironically, he _is_ universally praised for his ability to carry through extremely long surgeries without breaking a sweat.

 

“Yuuri!!! Yuuuuuuuuri!!!!!!!”

 

Ah. Someone is screaming his name.

 

A warm body collides with his, and he stumbles and barely catches himself with the wall behind.

 

“Oï, Vitya, be easy on this poor boy, he’s had a long day,” comes the gruff voice.

 

The weight put on him eases slightly, and he is able to look up in the blue eyes of Victor Nikiforov, whose face is so joyful he may as well be glowering. Yuuri blinks, not so sure of what he did to deserve such an expression.

 

“Victor… Please, I need to go see the family of the child I just operated, they must be terribly worried, and I…”

“I’m right here, and I’ve notified his parents right away,” Victor interrupts with a grin. “I watched it all, Yuuri, oh, that was incredible! You did it, you really did it!” he finishes with a bubbly laugh.

 

Yuuri looks at him for a moment, before abruptly remembering the events prior to the surgery – Victor shouting, Victor clutching his arms to tell him…what?

 

_“You’re not enough.”_

 

Oh.

Yuuri decides he has to address this, right now, before he loses his bravery.

 

“Look, Victor… I know I’m not… _you_ … But I _did_ do everything I could for this child, and I’m glad he’s gonna be okay. I may not be that _great_ of a surgeon, but you can’t just call someone…”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Victor suddenly cries, engulfing him in his arms once again. “You saved him, you saved _him_ , you beautiful, stupid human being! Today, you…you kept a family from being broken beyond repair… If, if my nephew had not made it…I don’t know…”

 

The tears are abundant now, and Yuuri feels them on his shoulder. He suddenly realizes that, in this moment, Victor is not the best heart surgeon in the world. He’s not the medical pioneer inspiring dozens of aspiring doctors.

 

He is just a scared uncle, he is…the family of the patient.

 

So Yuuri does what he always does with the families of his patients. He pats his back, tells him that as a surgeon he did all that could be done, and finally that the child – Pasha, he remembers now – is alive and well, that he’ll soon be allowed to visit him.

 

Victor does calm down after a while, but his awed look does not fade. Yuuri starts feeling more and more awkward – this is his crush keeping him in his harms, this is his crush looking at him like he’d just moved mountains, this is his crush…

 

“Yuuri,” Victor croons. “I _am_ going to see Pasha. But you have to promise me you’ll make time to speak with me about how you _mastered_ the technics I spent years perfecting.”

 

Something burns in Yuuri’s chest.

 

“You mean…like, I don’t know…”

“How much do you like Italian food, Yuuri?”

 

Yuuri looks at him, out of breath and slightly amazed.

 

“I…never had it.”

“Then…let me introduce it to you”, Victor winks while fumbling inside Yuuri’s medical blouse right pocket, before releasing him and presumably going to his nephew’s room.

 

Yuuri slips a hand in his pocket, finding a folded piece of paper.

_202-555-0157 / This is my private phone number. V._

 

Yuuri makes his way to the restroom, quietly giggling to himself, clutching the paper to his chest.

 

 _What a day_ , he thinks. _What a long, tiring, beautiful day._

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you'd enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it ^o^ ! See you tomorrow (hopefully) !


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